On the last day of the exhibition Creative Responses at Akureyri Art Museum, Viðbragðs people were welcomed to attend a symposium and artists talks.
The focus was on creative responses as a basic element of life and on the importance of art when facing a changed world due to climate change and other environmental threats.
Auður Aðalsteinsdóttir, director of the University of Iceland's research center in Þingeyjarsveit, who curated the exhibition with Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir, explained the ecocentric emphasis of the project Creative Responses.She also exhibited photos from a community project where the artist Hrafnkell Sigurðsson created an outdoor sculpture from found material in Mývatnssveit and helped students from Þingeyjarskóli make their own sculptures.
Skúli Skúlason is a biologist who wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, along with the philosopher Ole Martin Sandberg. At the symposium, Skúli talked about creative responses as the basis of all life.
Three of the exhibition artists elaborated on the ideas behind their works. a Snæfellsjökuls rawlings talked about the installation Motion to Change Colour Names to Reflect Planetary Boundary Tipping Points (2025) og skrifaði í votta viðurvist undir tillögu sína um að breyta litanöfnum þannig að þau endurspegluðu betur veruleika loftslagsbreytinga. Gestum var boðið að endurnefna sjálfir liti og taka með heim. Meðal litanafna sem urðu til voru „bráðnandi jöklablár“, „golfstraumslaust frost“, „útfrymisógn“ og „vonar mjúkur“.
Artist Hildur Hákonardóttir sent a video from Reykjavík where she explained the idea behind her work Creation (2025), where the goddess Sophia plays a key role: "Sophia turned out to be the mother of all creation and a symbol for the godly wisdom that creates the universe and gives flora, fauna and also people their life spirit and understanding. The work, which is still in process, aims to remind us of her legacy, rewriting her name into history and send into the universe."
Björg Eiríksdóttir ended the event with a talk on her video work Skyn (2025) and by answering questions from the audience who had their own ideas on the role of art in contemporary environmental crises.
Myndir: Galadriel González Romero